Sweet pepper

Capsicum annuum var. annuum (Grossum Group)

Sweet pepper is part of the Capsicum genus and its scientific name is Capsicum annuum var. annuum (Grossum Group). The annuum part of this plant's botanical name means 'annual'.

Bell or Sweet Peppers are a common addition to the home vegetable garden and are easy to grow. Sweet peppers come in a multitude of different colours, sizes and flavours and tend to grow best in warm areas where the soil can be kept relatively cool and moist.

Sweet peppers are categorized in the Grossum Group of peppers. All Peppers are best categorized by their rating on the Scoville Scale of heat. The Scoville scale (which is 10 point rating system based on the amount of capsaicin, the chemical that gives the heat) is the standard for describing hotness. A 0 or 1 is a bell or pimento/pepperoncini (respectively), and therefore considered a “sweet” pepper and placed in the Grossum group.

Excellent green pepper of nice size and very good yield. A popular old time variety.3

This variety typically blooms in the following colours: White smoke and Floral white. When mature, blooms are roughly 1.0 cm (that's 0.39 inches in imperial) in diameter. The mature flowers take a single form, with an approximate petal count of 5. This variety typically produces fruit in the following colours: Red and Dutch orange. The leaves of this particular variety normally show as Office Green and Ao green

Sweet pepper grows as an annual and is a flowering edible vegetable / fruit. Being an annual plant, it tends to grow best over the course of a single year.

Sweet pepper is known for growing to a height of approximately 1.79 feet (that's 55.0 cm in metric) with a climbing habit. Expect blooming to occur in early summer and harvesting to start by mid summer.

Try planting Sweet pepper if you'd like to attract bees to your garden.

Typically, Sweet pepper is normally fairly low maintenance and can thus be quite easy to grow - only a basic level of care is required throughout the year to ensure it thrives. Being aware of the basic growing conditions this plant likes (soil, sun and water) will result in a strong and vibrant plant.

This plant info is provided by the myfolia gardener's wiki. All details about Sweet pepper have been kindly provided by our members.

How to grow Sweet pepper

Full Sun

OR

Partial Sun

Medium

Mulch sweet peppers during the summer months to keep the soil temperature down as they have quite shallow roots. Keep the compost moist, but not wet. Fertilise weekly – when flowers appear feed with a high potash tomato feed.

Allow to completely ripen before harvesting for flavour.

Plant in a location that enjoys full sun / partial sun and remember to water moderately. As a rough idea of the types of climates Sweet pepper does best in, check to see if your local area is within USDA Hardiness Zones 4 and 11. Sweet pepper requires a potting mix, loamy and silty soil with a ph of 5.5 - 7.5 - it grows best in weakly acidic soil - weakly alkaline soil. Keep in mind when planting that Sweet pepper is thought of as tender, so it is imperative to wait until temperatures are mild before planting out of doors.

Growing Sweet pepper from seed

Peppers, like tomatoes, will not germinate with frost or cold temperatures. For most climates, starting early indoors is necessary. Pepper seeds germinate best with bottom heat keeping the soil temperature around 77-80 ºF (25-27 ºC). There are special seedling heat mats that raise the soil temp 10º above room temp, or you can use a lamp from above to warm the soil. If you do a search you can also find instructions for do-it-yourself bottom heat trays using Christmas tree lights.

Ensure a distance of 0.98 inches (2.5 cm) between seeds when sowing - look to sow at a depth of approximately 0.25 inches (0.64 cm). Soil temperature should be kept higher than 20°C / 68°F to ensure good germination.

By our calculations*, you should look at sowing Sweet pepper about 60 days before your last frost date .

Transplanting Sweet pepper

Transplant outdoors when seedlings have 5-6 leaves and after soil temp exceeds 55F.

Ensure that temperatures are mild (minimum night temperatures should be around 15°C / 59°F) and all chance of frost has passed before planting out, as Sweet pepper is a tender plant.

By our calculations*, you should look at planting out Sweet pepper about 14 days after your last frost date.

Harvesting Sweet pepper

Carefully cut off short piece of stem with fruit to avoid damaging plant.

Seed Saving Sweet pepper

Seed viability is four years.

How long does Sweet pepper take to grow?

These estimates for how long Sweet pepper takes to sprout, grow and harvest are from real observations from real gardeners, right around the world.